KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

The Old Gray Dog
is the most clear and concise yet comprehensive "Reformed" theologian
known to me.

He understands,
advocates, and articulates ecclesia
reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei more than
most professors, pulpiteers, and pewsitters.

You can learn
more about his witness to Him by going to the right column and clicking on The
Westminster Fellowship.

You'll also want
to click on www.bnnsradio.com and
watch/listen for a new internet radio broadcast from him in the very near
future.

@#$%

Having said that,
I have often confessed a few things to/about him.

First, I am a
theological BB gun compared to his heavy artillery; which is why I urge you to
tap into Him through him.

Second, being a
PCUSAer, noting anyone who takes Jesus by the book seriously will get this, I've found it sooooooo stunningly sad
that it's sooooooo hard
to get too many mainline denominationalists into Jesus by the book; meaning
it's pret' near impossible to move to the meat when folks ain't even been
nursed by/on the milk.

Mixing metaphors,
I've found it to be pret' near impossible to take folks to the frontier when
they haven't even stepped into the forest.

It's hard to
disciple those who haven't been evangelized to conversion.

@#$%

That really hit
home when Chuck pulled out a stunningly sad statistic for me.

He said 80% of
America does not know Jesus as personal Lord and Savior; and that while
mainliners like to talk and talk and talk about saving the planet from global whatever, we might want to
consider saving souls as a prerequisite to a broader understanding/passion
of/for stewardship.

People who are
saved want to save everyone/everything.

Then I got the
stats below.

Whoa.

Then I preached
from John's letters about ecclesiastical hypocrites who say they love God while
hating others for Christ's
sake.

Then I...

@#$%

Stats are
notoriously imprecise.

But if Chuck and
Barna's are anywhere...

Here's the point.

We gotta get
folks into the forest before we take 'em to the frontier.

I think it's a
great idea to save the planet from fossil fuels and aerosol cans; yet I know
people won't be really concerned about His creation until they have an intimate
relationship with Him as Creator/Sustainer/Savior.

First comes an
authentic relationship with the Lord.

Then comes an
acting out of that relationship in caring for others and everything else in His
creation.

That's why sooooooo many churches are
sooooooo messed
up these days and enabling Chuck and Barna's stats.

We can't get
right with everyone/everything else until we get right with Him.

Many clergy within this group leave
pastoral ministry due to the Clergy Killer Phenomenon. This phenomenon is
affecting our ministries, congregations and communities. Day after day,
call after call, The Ecumenical Educational Council receives the alarming news,
“I am simply unable to proceed in my ministry.”

After several screenings of the documentary BETRAYED:
The Clergy Killer’s DNA, discussions with theologians,
sociologists, psychologists, pastors and religious scholars, The Ecumenical
Educational Council selected BETRAYED:
The Clergy Killer’s DNA the most important Christian documentary of
2013. We recommend every pastor to study this documentary.

Since the
release of BETRAYED in late
2013, we have been contacted by hundreds of clergy, from
all denominations, expressing their gratitude for what they call “a film,
long overdue” and “the most important Christian movie since The
Passion of the Christ.”

We
recommend that all Christians, pastors and clergy, church leaders and church
members, see this movie so they will develop an increased alertness in order to
expose and neutralize the clergy killer phenomenon before it destroys more
clergy.

Examined in the documentary are the following eye opening
statistics:

70% of pastors report a
continuing struggle with depression. Hartford
Institute for Religious Research

90% of clergy in all denomination will not
stay in ministry long enough to reach the age of retirement. U.S. Bureau of Labor and
Statistics

50% of pastors indicate that they would leave
the ministry if they had another way of making a living. Hartford Institute for Religious
Research

61% of congregations have forced a pastor to
leave. Christianity Today Magazine

83% of clergy spouses want the spouse to leave pastoral ministry. Hartford
Institute for Religious Research

80% of pastors reported they
receive no support from peers. Hartford Institute of
Religious ResearchI pray
you will join the growing number of men and women who are finding this film to
be of paramount importance for healthy congregational life, and a tremendous
resource for overworked clergy who are often targeted by clergy killers.

A critique of the documentary by Rev. Dr. Jason Miller and a
synopsis of the film follows below. Please support this
extraordinary film. Post this urgent message to your facebook.
Inform your congregation and fellow clergy about this most important
educational film. It is, in our studied
opinion, a defining chapter in the life of the Church.

Let's agree to be forgiving,
reconciling, and loving like Jesus! I can't come to the phone

right
now; but if you'd leave your name, telephone number, and brief message after
the

beep,
I'll return your call as soon as I can. God bless you!

@#$%

I still like the
first message.

It's what
Christianity is really all about in
the end.

It addresses humanity's
greatest fear with His greatest assurance.

John 3:16-17.

@#$%

I like the second
message.

It's how
Christians act when they get what Christianity is all about in the end.

It addresses the kinda
conduct that confirms confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

John 13:34-35.

@#$%

I'll keep the
second message on my cellular for a while.

If anyone
complains about it, I'll go back to the first message.

If anyone
complains about it, I'll go back to the second message.

If anyone
complains about it, I'll go back to the...

Acts 5:27-29.

@#$%

Andy was an
inspiration for sticking with what's/Who's important over what's/who's
incidental.

Trained in America
and Europe sooooooo apologetically
as in advocating/defending the intellectual credibility of Christianity, my
messages/lectures were sooooo...academic
thatAndy
shook his head after I went on and on and on about something related to
Someone, smiled, and said, "Bob, just give 'em the gospel...[dramatic
pause]...for Christ's
sake!"

He reminded me of
a guest preacher in preaching class who counseled, "When bringing a
message to the people, don't pluck the turkey in front of them....[dramatic
pause]...Just deliver it!"

Friday, February 14, 2014

"Have some of you noticed that we are not yet
perfect?...I tried keeping rules

and working my head off to please God, and it didn't
work. So I quit being

a 'law man' so that I could be God's man. Christ's
life showed me how,

and enabled me to do it. I identified myself
completely with Him.

Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is
no longer

central. It is no longer important that I appear
righteous

before you or have your good opinion, and I am no

longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me.

The life you see me living is not 'mine,' but

it is lived by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself

for me.

I am not going to go back on that."

Paul

@#$%

If you're reading
this without reading the last edition ("Gerry Larson's Right!"), I
doubt it will make much sense.

It may not make
much sense even then.

It's a continuing
parable or poem or...indigestion.

I've reached the
conclusion that I will be scratching the surface of my
relationship with Jesus by
the book until I experience Him in a 1 Corinthians 13:12 kinda way.

I've
had many renewing to regenerating moments
along the way.

I'm still
unpacking October 2011 with Eugene and my covenant brothers.

The last week -
building upon what's recorded in the last edition along with the two
recollections and revelation to follow - is the latest moment.

If you don't get
it, it's O.K.

It's a Romans
8:26-30 thing.

@#$%

MB of IHOP has
often said, "Our staff at IHOP is allowed one 'God told me' a year."

Relating to his
hyperbole to make a point, he's cautioning against the spiritualizing of
auto-suggestion at the expense of revelation consistent with Jesus by the book.

This recollection
is my way of saying the revelation to follow in concert with the last edition
of KD may be inspired or may be indigested and may be relevant or
may be irrelevant or...

Obviously,
recording it means I'm thinking it may be helpful to others; by way of
contradiction if nothing else.

@#$%

Many, many, many
years ago, while "senior" pastor of a very "important"
church, I was interviewed for a very, very, very high profile
para-denominational gig in California.

It wasn't offered
to me.

Simply, I blew
the interview; not because of what I said but
because of who I was.

I'm not saying
I'm that hot now; just admitting there's always been room for lots of
improvement with now being no exception.

Explaining why
they would search for someone else over lunch - ruining the best orange
beef that I'd ever had in one of Hollywood's most notorious ethnic restaurants
- Jerry not Gerry said, "You've got so many impressive academic
credentials and executive experiences for somebody of your age; but while you
talk about how to love people, we just don't get the sense that you really love
them...personally."

It was true.

Many moments have ameliorated
that since; but it was true then.

I loved the souls
of people; but not people themselves.

I was not close
enough to Jesus' heart to have a heart for them.

This recollection
is my way of saying really loving people for Christ's sake is not possible
until we are more than less intimate with Him in a Galatians 2:20 kinda way.

The up side is we
begin to really, really, really love people like Jesus loves them; praying and
laboring and wanting nothing but His best for them.

The down side is
we begin to really, really, really love people like Jesus loves them; and
suffer with Him in a Matthew 23:37-39 kinda way when they reject our praying
and laboring and wanting nothing but His best for them by the book.

@#$%

Revelation.

After my vision
or dream or whatever (again, ya gotta go back to the last edition for context),
I became very, very, very ill.

I thought it was
a physical thing.

Soon, I realized
it was a spiritual issue/challenge/opportunity/fork-in-the-road manifesting
itself in a physical way.

I thought I was
going to die.

Really.

I hadn't felt
that physically awful since taking pain medication after a hernia operation and
watching a ceiling fan turn into Dumbo and fly away over seven years ago.

It wasn't physical.

It was spiritual
manifesting in the physical.

My heart had
broken.

My heart had
broken because of people who say they love Jesus yet treat each other with much
less than His agape.

It was a
cumulative effect of watching/experiencing that everywhere with everyone;
including the mirror of my soul.

Everywhere with
everyone about almost everything, I saw people who say they love Jesus treating
each other with contempt, disrespect, discourtesy, disdain, disunity, irregularity,
irascibility, and irreconcilability.

My soul's mirror
reflected them more than Him.

I cried,
"Lord, my heart is broken. My heart is broken by people who won't
forgive and reconcile and sacrifice and invite and welcome and include and...
My heart is broken because I have often acted too much like them... You
have done so much for them and me and... My heart is broken for
You."

He said, "I
will mend your heart."

He is.

@#$%

As my heart
mends, my body follows.

While I know I
will never get it/Him altogether until that 1 Corinthians 13:12 eventuality,
getting closer to Him before then will mean increasingly intimate imitation.

If not, not.

Affirming the
mysteries of predestination does not blind me to the consequences of volition.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Something strange
has been happening on the corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois.

I'm not talking
about the increasing revival; for that's expected when a family of faith
increases its intimacy with Jesus by the book.

Well into my 9th
year of life and ministry with the saints, more and more and more folks keep
referring to me as Pastor Bill.

It started
several months ago.

It happened seven
times last week.

Nostalgia?

Wishful thinking?

Humbly, I take it
as a compliment; because Bill, my predecessor of 16 years, is heavy artillery
compared to my BB gun charismata.

I'm never
defensive with people who'd prefer he was still here and I was somewhere else.

Some were/are on
staff.

Most of 'em have
left; yet...

Sigh.

I saw pictures of
Bill when he arrived.

Dark hair.

He left with all
white hair - head and face.

I came with hair
and brown beard.

I stay with no
hair and increasingly salty white partial beard.

Sigh.

I don't know what
it means; but it's gotta mean something.

@#$%

There's a thread
through the preceding and the following.

It's parabolic or
poetic or...indigestion.

You judge; and I
know some of yu'uns feel very comfortable in His role.

Maybe I'm just
headed to the desert.

@#$%

A friend and
local pastor who really loves Jesus by the book almost died not too long ago.

I've often sent
people who hate me in a
Christian kinda way to worship with him.

Actually, he did
die; but came back to life in a resurrecting kinda way.

While dead, he
heard directly from God about something that he'd read before from Jesus:
"There are wolves among the sheep."

He told me that
he has taken the protecting part of undershepherding
more seriously ever since in
a rod/staff kinda way.

I've been
praising the Lord for his increasing tenure.

@#$%

I went to
basketball games last Saturday; watching the sophomores win and varsity
lose.

It started well.

I gave two
dollars to the ticketmaster as a senior and was carded.

Cool.

Later that night
after the games, I got into it with one of my sons.

Not cool.

Essentially, he
told me how much he hated me for always being at the hospitals and always being
available at any hour of the day or night for everybody but my own family. He
said I just sleep when home and never spend time with the family during
holidays as I spend all of my time at the church making the seasons bright
for everybody else. He said that's why two of my five sons hate me;
and because I've always had more time for everybody but my own family, I
shouldn't expect them to...etc., etc., etc.,...ad infinitum.

Painful.

True.

I've sacrificed sooooooo many of the
blessings intended for our family at the altar of my...profession.

Being a
Philippians 3:12-16 and 4:12-13 kinda guy, I will ask God's graces to become a
better...everything for
everyone to honor Him.

@#$%

I started again after hearing
directly from Him while feeling...dead...that Saturday into Sunday.

I think I fell
asleep around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Then I heard Him:
"Bob, I know you're tired. Would you like to come home now?"

Response:
"Yes, Jesus, yes, please take me home now. I am tired. I'm
feeling like a failure as a husband, father, undershepherd,
presbyter,...everything to
everyone...Yes, please take me home now. I believe. I
do. I want to be with You right now. I believe the best life
is with You in heaven. Yes, please take me..."

That went back
and forth for...

I don't know.

It was a dream or
vision or...indigestion.

You judge; and I
know some of...

Anyway, it ended
with this/His word: "Not done."

I woke up to a
remembrance of my son's recent inking on his right bicep much to the horror of his mom
but that I kinda like that kinda speaks to generational divides so
innocently pointed out in my exchange with the ticketmaster: Philippians
4:13.

I'm ready to go
home to Jesus right now.

Really.

Longingly.

Paradise sounds good to
me.

I believe the
best life comes after the last breath in time.

I'm also prepared
by Him to remain
until it's His appointed time to go home to Him.

I'm with Paul in
a Philippians 1:19-30 kinda way.

@#$%

Sooooooo Gerry Larson's
right.

About four years
ago, I was going on and on and on as I can about not really caring what people
think as long as I'm/we're esteeming Jesus by the book.

Gerry
interrupted, "I don't believe you. I believe you do care. I
believe you care very deeply or you wouldn't be so passionate about it. I
believe you do care or you'd have quit long ago."

True.

Painful.

I care very,
very, very deeply, deeply, deeply about...my wife and children...my family
in Pennsylvania...our family of faith on the corner of Lincoln and Main...Belvidere...Boone/McHenry/Winnebago
Counties...BHS/BN...PCUSA...Blackhawk Presbytery...people who leave churches
for anything other than apostasy from Jesus by the book...people who say they
love Jesus while hating people for
Christ's sake...people who say we're friends then drop me because I
can't/won't be their champion/BF/lover...people whose self-righteous
judgmentalism is only thinly veiled by posing
fidelity...America...world...etc., etc., etc.,...ad infinitum.

I believe there
is heaven for believers who, more than less, behave like believers...and hell
for...

Yes, I care.

Gerry Larson's
right.

@#$%

Buechner: "A
prophet's quarrel with the world is deep-down a lover's quarrel. If they didn't
love the world, they probably wouldn't bother to tell it that it's going to
hell. They'd just let it go."